The agency has also issued an urgent tsunami warning for Miyagi prefecture, instructing residents to move immediately to higher ground. Tsunami alerts and advisories were subsequently lifted.

Other prefectures in the Tohoku region of northern Japan affected by the tsunami warning are Fukushima, the site of the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, along with Aomori, Iwate and Ibaraki prefectures.Waves of 1 to 2 meters in height were expected. Residents of Fukushima were reportedly evacuated.

Many areas have been left without power, including Sendai City.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the epicenter of Thursday's quake was 205 north/northeast of Tokyo, 41 miles east of Sendai, 70 miles east of Yamagata and 72 miles east/northeast of Fukushima.

Several semiconductor chip fabs are located in the general area of Thursday's quake, some of which have been offline since the March 11 quake due to damage and infrastructure outages.

Epicenter of Thursday's magnitude 7.1 quake off the coast of northern Japan. Source: Japan Meteorological Agency.Click on image to enlarge.

Mobile phone calls to Tokyo were not going through in the minutes after the quake struck. However, land lines appeared to be functioning. According to reports, tall buildings in the Japanese capital shook during what may be a major aftershock following the March 11 quake off Sendai in northern Japan.

The latest quake comes as residents of Fukushima prefecture continue to dig out from the historic March 11 quake.

Reports said the Tohuku bullet train line had shut down when the latest quake hit. NHK Television reported that Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced that three nuclear power stations, including the stricken Fukushima power station, were so far unaffected by Thursday’s quake.